nokia north

Having both the n95 8gb and the n82  nseries phones, i often find myself having to decide which one to carry.  As much as the two handsets are similar, there are a few features that set them apart in my mind, mainly hardware.  Here are a few things I’ve noticed.

Web Surfing – I find surfing the web on my n82 pretty annoying.  The keys, while spaced nicely, do not lend themselves to one handed use of the phone while on the web and trying to input text.  You have to stretch your thumb to hit the lower 30% of the handset to get to the keys and after awhile I just don’t find it worth it.  Conversely, i find web surfing on the n95 second only to the iphone.  The bigger screen makes a difference, but for me it’s the ergonomics that is the real winner here.  The soft keys are easier to hit and keys themselves being larger seem to lend themselves to an overall more pleasant experience.  The n95 takes the cake here.

Camera – It’s been well documented on blogs and reviews that the main shortcoming of the n95 8gb is the lack of camera lens cover with an active manual shutter control and no xenon flash.  I haven’t been too bothered by the lack of a lens cover yet, but the lack of flash for the evening shots is a real bummer.  I love having the n82 with me, you truly feel as if you have all the abilities of a point & shoot without carrying two devices.  While recently taking some indoor night shots with my n95, i was quite disappointed because they looked like they came from a crappy cell phone camera, where as with my n82 and it’s xenon flash, my night time shots look like they came from a dedicated camera. The n82 kills it in this category.

Video Recording – I’m not sure if I’m the only one who has this problem, but when i am panning with my n82 in video mode, the image is strangely compressed and tends to look squished and distorted until the camera comes to a stop.  This really takes away from the great video quality that this phone can shoot.  I haven’t seen this problem crop up with my n95 8gb yet.  Other than that, they both shoot fantastic looking video but for me the n95 wins out here.

Battery life – I have been pretty happy with both phones in this area.  I was worried as the battery issues with the n95 seemed to be a big turn of for many.  I find that if i throw the phone in gsm mode when not accessing the 3G network for data, my battery usage (even with using the camera quite often and listening to music) is quite comparable to other handsets i own from different manufacturers. Tie.

3G – The fact that i have a European 3G n82 and i live in Canada means that i can’t access the high speed cell networks in this country.  It is too bad because i love the speed of my 3G n95 8gb.  Now this isn’t a fault of the n82 by any means, i would have full access in other parts of the world, but for me in North America, the n95 is a much better choice when i want access to data.  n95 wins here, but that’s my fault, not the n82.

Form Factor- I hate sliders. there i said it.  Up until i used the n95 that is.  I went for the n82 originally because i was getting basically all the benefits of the n95 but in the candy bar form factor that i preferred.  But using the n95 doesn’t feel like other sliders to me.  The handset feels balanced in your hand when you use it, not like others I’ve used in the past.  I like that the phone’s weight remains on the base and the light screen portion is the part that slides.  When inputting text or numbers, you don’t feel like the phone is top heavy, a problem which kept me away in the past.  I suppose this is a sign of the good build quality and design that Nokia is famous for.  For those of you out there like me who stay away from the phone because of the slider factor, rest assured this will not be an issue. Tie again

Data Port – n95 has mini usb, n82 doesn’t.  n95 wins here for me.

Headphone port – n82’s headphone jack is on the top while n95’s is on the side.  While not that big of deal, i prefer the n82 here, plus i love the earphones that came with the n82.  I’m not really a big fan of the ones that came with the n95 8gb.  As much as i’ve heard people complain about how stupid it is to put the headphone jack on the side of the phone, i hear fewer people comment on the benefit of this.  Because of the side input, you can stand the n95 up on it’s side while the n82 is a lot tougher to make sit on it’s side.  Again, a tie here as i like the benefits on both handsets.

Buttons – i like the  way that the n82’s keys look, but i prefer using the n95’s for input much more.  Also, being a dual slider, the n95 8gb’s screen slides down to reveal dedicated media buttons.  I find these great for easy and no look access to your phones music.  I use my phones in my car as a music source and being able to switch tracks without having to take much time looking at the phone is a real bonus to the n95.

Storage – 8gb’s is great on the n95.  I do prefer the n82’s removable memory card because the data transfer speeds on both handsets is somewhat slow.  Having the ability to pull the card out and transfer images and music on my own card reader is great, but the built in 8gb on the n95 is a great feature and enough storage for most users out there.  Again, this one comes down to personal preference.

Screen – The large screen on the n95 8gb is great for using the internet, maps, and video.  The screen on the n82 is a little smaller, but still very crisp and a joy to use, however i’ll give the nod to the n95 here based on the larger screen the sliding form factor allows.

So as much as these two phones are very similar, there are some make or break differences in my opinion.  Mainly in form factor and camera build, but each phone excels in it’s own right.  I couldn’t decide which one i liked more, so i bought both of them, but for those you out there that have no need for two handsets, keep in mind some of the benefits and negatives of each handset and make the best decision for your needs.  I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on the two handsets and how they stack up to each other.

nokianorth